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Running head: PARENTAL ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS 1
PARENTAL ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS 8
Parental Academic Expectations, Parental Involvement, and Socioeconomic Status: Applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for a Greater Understanding
Author Note
Mary Jane
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mary Jane
Email: maryjane@liberty.edu
Abstract
Academic achievement is a global concern with local issues. One of the greatest indicators for academic achievement is academic parental involvement, which develops high academic expectations. Due to federal, state, and local demands, schools are mandated to develop parental involvement programs to help bridge the gap from school to home and improve overall academic experiences and achievements. However, parents are faced with limited resources and numerous obstacles, which impede parental involvement and hampers high parental expectations. Numerous programs have been developed to minimize these obstacles. Still, parents have limited resources, and as those resources become less, parents must focus on basic needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains the decisions parents make regarding academic parental involvements and academic expectations.
Keywords: academic parental involvement, academic expectations, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Parental Academic Expectations, Parental Involvement, and Socioeconomic Status: Applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for a Greater Understanding
Academic success is the general goal for teachers and schools; however, each year schools find themselves facing students who struggle for unknown reasons. School districts and individual schools use a report card, which typically reports academic achievement within various demographic categories: general education, special education, English learner, gender, ethnicity, and free or reduced lunch. Schools use these groupings as a way to identify where academic success is achieved or underachieved throughout various academic measures: reading, writing, math, etc. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2018), the Nation’s Report Card indicates that less than 50% of students across the United States scored at or above proficient in all areas of academics: civics, geography, mathematics, reading, science, technology, U.S. history and writing. The No Child Left Behind Act required schools to be measured through standardized academic achievement, and the Race to the Top program reinforces excellent teaching through additional funding and support. With the emphasis on education management and measurement, it has become evident that a critical component schools face is parental involvement and high academic expectations.
Academic achievement varies significantly by numerous demographics, including one’s socioeconomic status. While all men are created equal, income distribution and educational quality are far from equal. Schools in the United States are funded by federal, state, and local taxes, which means that if a school is located within an affluent community, it is more funded than those in poorer areas, which could provide a discrepancy in the resources and quality of services. In addition, students who attend less funded schools tend to live in homes with a lower socioeconomic status. As a result, these families struggle with the daily obligations of financial woes and resource management. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2016, there were 40 million people in the United States living in poverty and eighteen percent of all children in the United States living in poverty. As a result, these families experience much more than financial hardship; they also suffer from the consequences of limited resources. To make matters worse, there are more families in poverty, who are supported by a female householder without a male present, than there are families in poverty supported by a married couple (US Census, 2018). This means that in addition to having limited financial resources, the majority of these families are functioning with only one adult parent in the household.
To meet basic needs, this one parent must typically provide the income of two working parents on a full-time basis, which means time spent at home or other leisure activities is limited. The single parent is responsible for working at least one job, paying for living expenses, grocery shopping, preparing meals, doing laundry, providing transportation and attending to a child’s education. With all the basic demands that daily life requires, there’s little time or energy that’s spent beyond survival. Since children’s education doesn’t fall within the survival category, many children who live in poverty go with less parental involvement or even parental academic expectations, which results in less academic achievement. Considering the tug of war parents face in balancing everyone’s needs, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model may explain some of the variances with parental academic expectations. This makes one wonder how does a family’s income in the United States influence parental academic expectations?
Background
Countries around the world have established laws and regulations to enhance parental involvement, which increases academic expectations. According to Hornby (2011), a few of these national programs are: The United States’ No Child Left Behind policy, which encouraged schools to develop parent-school partnerships, The United Kingdom’s the Children’s Plan, which emphasizes the role and importance parents play in academic achievement, and the Schooling Strategy in New Zealand, which identifies improving parent-school relationships as a top-three priority. According to the United States Department of Education (1996), school districts receive direct funding and are mandated to develop and maintain parent partnerships, which bridge the gap from school to home. At this time, 17 states require school districts to develop and facilitate parental involvement policies. In addition, 7 states have required schools to incorporate parent programs and partnerships within their School Improvement Plan.
Schools in the United States receive funds from Title I funds, which are federal funds that are in part meant to be used for developing and implementing school-parent partnerships and programs (Title I, 1996). In addition to these funds, many states provide financial support and mandate school-parent partnerships to be included in school improvement plans and still, parental expectations and parental involvement continue to be a challenge for school districts. To understand why these challenges, continue to exist, it’s important to examine the barriers that parents face. Hornby and Lafaele (2011) developed a model to understand the gaps between perceived parental involvement and the barriers parents face. This model identifies barriers to parental involvement in education and categorizes them into four components: individual parent and family factors, child factors, parent-teacher factors, and societal factors. Individual parent and family factors consist of parents’ individual thoughts and perceptions about parental involvement, parents’ present life circumstances and situations, parents’ views of requests or offers for participation and parents’ socioeconomic status, cultural identification and gender identification. Child-specific factors were elements directly related to the specific child: grade level, academic success or struggles, and were child factors such as age, learning talents, difficulties and disabilities, and behavior concerns. Parent-teacher factors related to perceived differences between parents and teachers regarding priorities, perceptions, values, and were parent-teacher factors such as the differing agendas, attitudes and communication gaps. Societal factors included cultural norms within the community such as background, cultures, financial and partisan, which could be perceived as barriers. The combination of the barriers creates a complex concern for teachers and schools to increase parental involvement in the school, which is a well-documented need for academic achievement.
Hornby and Blackwell (2018) reviewed the original model to understand current barriers to parental involvement in the classroom. Their motivation was to see if the original barriers applied, and if there has been an improvement, lessening the gaps. They identified that the original gaps continue to exist; however, schools have taken a more active approach to engaging parents and encouraging parental participation. To help schools overcome these obstacles, eight forms of parental involvement have been identified: communication (school-to-parent and teacher-to-parent); liaison (translators and interpreters and parent-teacher associations); education (school and classroom expectations for student learning); support (resources to bridge the gaps and include parents in educational decisions); information (newsletters, emails, updates, and classroom communication); collaboration (parent and administration committees); resources (translated materials, school supplies, access to organizations, etc.); and, policy (regulations to improve and enhance parent participation as a part of school development and improvement).
Understanding the historical applications of the model, its weaknesses, and implications help with a holistic perspective of school-parent policies, procedures, and programs. These barriers impact academic involvement, which has a direct impact on academic expectations and academic achievement; conversely, increased parental involvement and parental expectations benefit academic achievement. Hornby (2011) reported that parental involvement benefits children, teachers, and parents. Children were identified to be more successful in the school and have better attitudes toward the educational environment. Teachers reported that improved parent participation led to better parent-teacher relationships, teacher satisfaction, and school culture. The positive results have applied across gender, ethnicity, and grade-level differences. In addition, Wang and Sheikh-Khalil examined the effect parent involvement had on adolescent achievement (2013). As predicted, parental participation was identified to positively impact academic achievement.
Since parental expectations increase with developing a relationship and investing time with schools, it has become an integral focus throughout studies and program implementations. As a result, schools are expected to develop parent-school partnerships and programs and close the gap between home and school with the intent of increasing academic achievement. Bowen, Hopson et al., (2012) conducted a longitudinal study and discovered that, “Parental expectations for behavior as students enter middle school was a predictor of academic outcomes three years later.” Another study consisting of 10,681 families with children in grades k-12 identified that, “Parental expectations were positively related….to positive school outcomes” (Froiland & Davison, 2013, p. 6). Loughlin-Presnal and Bierman (2017) reported, “parent academic expectations emerged as a primary mediator of children's outcomes on measures of emergent literacy skills and teacher-rated self-directed learning” (p. 68). While benefits increased from parental involvement and increased academic expectations, the reverse is also true.
Limited parental academic participation or decreased expectations have many causes and are directly tied to academic underachievement. Many researchers have identified various causes for poor academic achievement within schools; however, according to Loughlin-Presnal & Bierman (2017), “A number of prior studies have shown that parent academic expectations serve as a protective factor for child school outcomes in the face of adverse circumstances” (p. 69). Conversely, parents who have lower academic expectations lessen the “protective factor” for the child’s academic results, especially in at-risk groups. However, Robinson et al, (2014) provided a counter approach to parental involvement in education.
While it seems natural that academic parental involvement increases academic achievement, the collective data from the National Education Longitudinal Study and the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which are both representative of national data collected and analyzed to determine contributions to academic achievement, indicate that academic parental involvement in some cases, improves educational achievement; however, when examining social classes and race differences, the results are not always positive. For example, “Black, Hispanic, Asian, socioeconomically disadvantaged and white parents” are all very similar in communicating the importance of education and encouraging academic growth (p. 2). However, these same groups show differences in the involvement within the schools, which may occur due to limited resources, limited access to the school due to transportation, logistics, and competing responsibilities.
Regardless of the barriers, the level of academic achievement is barely influenced by parental involvement in the school; however, academic parental involvement within the home or a setting other than the school had the greatest positive effect. This may be in part due to parents’ overwhelming responsibilities and limited resources, especially parents within a lower socioeconomic demographic. Goss (2017) provided a culturally aware approach to examining barriers parents face while trying to participate in a child’s educational process. He found that Hispanic and African-American parents struggled more with school processes, and they perceive the school as a governmental agency with power, resulting in a power struggle between parent and school (representative). Parents received more acceptance when children were in elementary schools; however, as the grade level increased, so did the level of difficulty. Parents felt that school representatives and teachers perceived parents to have a hidden agenda and had to justify an interest in participating in the school or classroom. Numerous samples were provided that demonstrated perceived resistance from schools, especially if the parents inquired about school policies, procedures, specific student information, or the process to advocate on a student’s behalf. Some parents felt that schools intentionally blocked information and refused to return calls or emails, keeping parents in the dark. While schools provided opportunities for parental engagement, they were limited in scope to topics that were considered school-approved such as parenting. Occasionally, schools provided workshops, but they were generally inconvenient and unhelpful. In addition, Wang, Deng, and Yang (2016) identified strong relationships between family economic status and parental involvement.
Since parental involvement has been shown to shield academic challenges, it is particularly needed for families who struggle economically. These families and students already have numerous obstacles to overcome, and this protection provides a buffer for students. Parental involvement can include volunteering at the school, attending pre-scheduled meetings like back-to-school nights or parent-teacher conferences, and participating in the management of the school through committees. Parental involvement benefits students through academic achievement, literacy development, grades, and long-term academic progression. This study recognizes the effects of self-efficacy and parents’ efforts due to perceived abilities. Specifically, low-income parents may perceive educators as experts and feel inadequate to support their children and schools. The perception of limited resources, insufficient knowledge, and communication struggles plays a role in parents’ comfort with academic participation. Whatever the barrier, real or perceived, intentional or accidental, academic parental participation and high academic expectations vary based upon demographics.
Learning Theory Association
Schunk (2016) provided an overall understanding of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model. Maslow developed his model to understand the various needs humans have and their holistic motives. For example, if someone steals food, it doesn’t mean they enjoy stealing; instead, their need for food overpowers their need for societal belonging. Maslow’s model indicates that there are five hierarchical needs: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. These needs progress through human development and can be met simultaneously. However, lower-level needs such as physiological and safety must be met before an individual can progress through the high level of needs. The first four needs, physiological, safety, and belongingness are considered deprivational. That is, if one of these needs are not met, individuals will strive to accomplish them. Last, but not least, self-actualization is a much higher need that one can desire once the deprivational needs are met, and the person is in a state where he/she desires greater self-fulfillment. In addition, the first four needs are relatively identifiable; however, self-actualization can vary based on a person’s personal desires: parenthood, career ambitions, spiritual awareness, etc.
Prince and Howard (2002) dissected Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and clarified how impoverished children from lower socioeconomic families receive a less adequate education, suffer from insufficient care, and are more likely to develop preventable medical conditions. These foretelling elements are not only predictors of academic achievement, but also indicate the customary care children receive. Poor children attend school with empty bellies, insecure housing, unsafe family arrangements, inadequate nutrition, and deprived wellbeing. As a result, they are not in a psychological condition to accept learning and be motivated to attend to the learning environment. For these children, many cannot even surpass the basic need of physiological demands, and their limited access to healthcare puts them at great risk for illness, disease and regular care, frequently resulting in conditions that could have been prevented with routine medical supervision. Their feelings of safety and security are hampered by their home environment or community; from violence to gangs, children in poverty struggle with feelings of a constant and secure home. Since these basic elements cannot be met, their sense of belonging and love is limited and must be reserved when other basic needs aren’t maintained.
Key Terms
Wang and Sheikh-Khalil (2013) developed a model to categorize the various types of academic parental involvement. The first type of academic parental involvement is parents participating in the school which could incorporate parent-teacher meetings, attending to extra-curricular or school-sponsored events, and volunteering. Another type of academic parental support is supporting academics in the home. This can be seen by parents developing a specific process for studies and overseeing school grades and assignments. Parental academic support can also be facilitating school-based academic socialization opportunities, which can look like parent to child conversations regarding the value of school and establishing, maintaining, and communicating high expectations for academic achievement. This would also include positive reinforcements, such as verbal praise and supporting long-term employment desires. In addition to understanding parental involvement, it’s important to determine characteristics of academic expectations. Alexander et al., (1994) defined parental academic expectations as, “realistic beliefs or judgments that parents have about their children's future achievement as reflected in course grades, highest level of schooling attained, or college attendance” (p. 283).
Gaps in the Research
There is limited research and challenges associated with correlating the complex relationship between parental involvement and socioeconomic status (SES) . Stull (2013) examined the effect a family’s income, which is identified as socioeconomic status (SES) had upon parent expectations and academic achievement. To determine the strength of the relationship between the two, the study attempted to isolate the parental expectation from other indirect factors. This is important because minimal research has been done to identify the specific relationship. However, this study was able to recognize that as a family’s income rises, the parental expectations rise with it. One study considered external factors associated with SES. For example, as SES decreases, and parental involvement decreases, academic progress also decreases. One example of this is that pre-school children from lower SES household tend to have less sophisticated vocabulary than children from higher SES household. One study found that the parent’s SES secondarily correlated to academic achievement through the parent’s academic expectations. Another study identified that as parental income rises, a larger portion of that population expected their children to a graduate from college.
Understanding that a parent’s SES is indirectly related to achievement creates the necessity for schools and government agencies to identify resources and provide additional interventions to buffer the educational gap and raise the bar. Some solutions provided include providing professional development for teachers in the area of cultural awareness and sensitivity, limiting the language gap through translation and interpretation services, and providing written school communication in the parents’ native language (Ozurk, 2013).
Biblical Worldview
Just as there are various levels of participation and expectations for academic achievement, there are different degrees of religious or spiritual beliefs. Sire (2009) presents seven universal questions to help differentiate nine unique perspectives. His questions include, “What is prime reality? What is the nature of external reality? What is a human being? What happens to a person at death? Why is it possible to know anything at all? How do we know what is right or wrong? What is the meaning of human history? What personal, life-orienting, core commitments are consistent with this worldview?” Using these core questions, we can see that Christians believe that Theism states that we are creations of God and are able to think because He has given us that ability, which separates us from all other living beings. In exchange, we are to follow in his word, fulfilling mankind’s purpose, and die, knowing that if we have accepted Him, our eternal salvation will be free of human suffering.
Another common belief system is Naturalism, which views human existence through a scientific explanation. Using the cosmos, we are able to use reasoning and develop methods of science to understand the operations of the world. Upon the death of our bodies, which are made of chemical and physical properties, we return to the ground and no longer exist. Even more extreme is Nihilism, which describes human beings as machines, which do not have self-determination nor destiny; the future is pre-determined, and we cannot change or influence anything significant. Still, others have an Eastern belief system, a belief of many Gods (Hinduism), atman and reincarnation (Buddhism), and Allah, which denies the existence or acceptance of other gods.
1 Samuel 3: 13 (NIV) says, “For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.” Christian parents demonstrate their love for their children by protecting them and teaching them right and wrong, which includes praise and restraint. Parents have an obligation to correct and prevent the direction, beliefs, attitudes, and actions of their children. If parents do not take an active role in actively guiding beliefs, values, and behaviors, children are left to make a path for themselves and receive guidance, potentially misdirected, from others. In addition to spiritual guidance, parents should provide academic guidance and hold their children in the highest regard, expecting greatness and not limiting their potential.
Conclusion
There have been many programs established to bridge the gap, but the intervention should occur at the early years of education. As children grow older, parents become less involved in school, so establishing a relationship between parents and schools should be part of a normal routine during the lowest grade levels (pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first grade, etc.). One of the ways schools can develop these relationships is to require parents to participate in classroom activities on a regular basis. For example, parents might need to invest one hour per month in the classroom or ten hours per school year. While this is not always feasible, parents who are unable to participate could contribute in other ways.
According to Ðurišić and Bunijevac (2017) there are six models of parental involvement, which are: Protective Model, keeping parents and teachers separate, and parent involvement is considered unnecessary; Expert Model, the teacher is considered the expert and parents are recipients of knowledge; Transmission Model, teachers are still considered experts, but parental input is valuable; Curriculum-Enrichment Model, incorporates parents into the curriculum and instruction, which may cause chaos; Consumer Model, parents are the decision makers, and teachers concede; and Partnership Model, a recognition that teachers are experts for education; and parents are experts for their own children. Each model has its pros and cons, but schools should consider these models when developing future parental involvement programs.
Academic expectations vary from individual to individual and from demographic to demographic. Some cultures place a significant value on education compared to others. There are also some who associate education with the government and feel threatened by potential relations with immigration enforcement, Children and Family Services, or other perceived “big brother” organization. There are many reasons why parents may have low academic expectations for their children. They, themselves, may be undereducated. They may lack the resources to support academic growth. They may not value education due to cultural, socio-economic, or familial reasons. Parents may also struggle with balancing family and work obligations and cannot dedicate the time and energy needed to invest in academic achievement.
While parents may choose to participate and have high expectations, schools must continue to improve. As part of an organization that receives local, state, and federal funds, schools must maintain accountability. Administration, teachers, and parents need to work together to develop successful programs that support students’ needs, minimize the barriers for all, and enhance academic achievement, so all can be successful.
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